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The problem is it's too broad a claim. Trademarking a color is limited to (1) a specific competitive space, and (2) when it is a distinctive identifier of your

The problem is it's too broad a claim. Trademarking a color is limited to (1) a specific competitive space, and (2) when it is a distinctive identifier of your brand (e.g., DeWalt's yellow and black scheme in the power tools business). T-Mobile is in the telecom business, and Lemonade is in the residential insurance business. T-Mobile should not be trying to take-down a company that is not in their competitive space for using the same color on their website. I am not a lawyer, but I have dealt with this at work. This is not legal advice.

mikepurvis 7y ago
Related to tools and colours, SparkFun got in trouble a few years ago over selling knockoff multimeters with the same colour scheme as the iconic Fluke one: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428 https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428
- taftster 7y ago
  I almost missed the followup to this, which is here: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1430 https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1430 Apparently Fluke "allowed" SparkFun to distribute the multi-meters in question to educational and charitable organizations, rather than just destroying them. I guess that's as close to a nice resolve as you can get without Fluke just completely dropping their action.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  > Sparkfun: So we really only have two options, ship them back [the multimeters, to China] or have them destroyed. I wonder if they would consider the idea of painting them in a different colour...
  - mikepurvis 7y ago
    Given that they were destined to be sold for $15 a pop, and already assembled ready to go, I very much doubt that this would have been economically workable. Even sourcing a paint that would adhere to the plastic body of the device would be a huge headache.
    - pvaldes 7y ago
      Could be sold for $17 also, people would understand it, and the other option is to distroy the products and lose the entire investment or to give out the product for free at your coast and maybe close the project for lack of funds.

mikepurvis 7y ago

Related to tools and colours, SparkFun got in trouble a few years ago over selling knockoff multimeters with the same colour scheme as the iconic Fluke one: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428 https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428

taftster 7y ago
I almost missed the followup to this, which is here: https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1430 https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1430 Apparently Fluke "allowed" SparkFun to distribute the multi-meters in question to educational and charitable organizations, rather than just destroying them. I guess that's as close to a nice resolve as you can get without Fluke just completely dropping their action.
pvaldes 7y ago
> Sparkfun: So we really only have two options, ship them back [the multimeters, to China] or have them destroyed. I wonder if they would consider the idea of painting them in a different colour...
- mikepurvis 7y ago
  Given that they were destined to be sold for $15 a pop, and already assembled ready to go, I very much doubt that this would have been economically workable. Even sourcing a paint that would adhere to the plastic body of the device would be a huge headache.
  - pvaldes 7y ago
    Could be sold for $17 also, people would understand it, and the other option is to distroy the products and lose the entire investment or to give out the product for free at your coast and maybe close the project for lack of funds.